Tag: Circus Maximus

Godwin

  • The Fart Duel of 2024

    The following AI generated story is a slight exaggeration of what happened this morning during White Deer’s Q. I don’t use AI in my Q writeups, only for White Deer.

    In a gym that time forgot, nestled between the mists of myth and history, there stood a rugged clearing surrounded by thick oaks and buzzing with strange anticipation. The air was rich with an improbable concoction of sweat, wildflowers, and the faint aroma of roasted chestnuts. It was here that a peculiar gathering took place: the legendary fart duel between Attila the Hun and the White Deer.

    The attendees were a motley crew, each one stranger than the last. Whitesnake, with their long hair and leather pants, were tuning their guitars, their riffs barely holding together against the dissonance of the bad country music already blaring from the speakers. Bedpan, the wiry jester with a wicked grin, whispered quips to anyone who’d listen. Offshore, a mysterious figure wearing sunglasses and a sailor’s cap, watched the scene with arms crossed, nodding along to the beat.

    Next to them, Lighthouse stood tall, beaming like a human beacon, his white robe swaying with the force of a nonexistent breeze. Pigskin, a burly fellow with a perpetual game face and cleats that dug into the dirt, did squats while muttering plays under his breath. Mr. Rogers, calm as ever in his iconic cardigan, offered quiet words of encouragement to everyone, including the participants. And finally, Gaudi, draped in colors that rivaled the most ambitious stained glass, sketched the scene on a scroll, arching eyebrows at every absurd twist.

    The center of attention, however, was the duel itself. Attila the Hun, mighty conqueror of the Huns, shirtless and muscled from kettlebell training, twirled his iron weight like it was featherlight. His eyes burned with the glint of a man who had faced battlefields but was now set to prove himself in an entirely different arena.

    Facing him was the White Deer, a mystical creature, whose coat shimmered like a cloud at sunrise. It pawed the ground with a mix of grace and anticipation, nostrils flaring slightly. This was no ordinary deer—it was said to be born of wind and moonlight, its flatulence capable of clearing forests or, on a gentler day, creating sweet breezes across meadows.

    The duel began. The kettlebells clanged like war drums as both Attila and the White Deer crouched in focus.

    Attila let out a fierce bellow, lifting a kettlebell above his head, muscles rippling. With a deep inhale and a defiant glare, he unleashed a sound that could have belonged to the storm gods—a guttural, thunderous blast that made the leaves above tremble and Pigskin lose his balance mid-lunge. The force reverberated through the clearing, bending tree branches and causing Bedpan to clutch his sides in awe.

    The White Deer, initially unfazed, raised its head. It shifted slightly, its elegant legs crossing like a dancer’s. A moment of silence fell over the clearing. Then, with the gentlest lift of its tail, the Deer responded. A sound followed—soft, melodic, almost like the whistle of a flute mixed with the chime of a distant bell. But instead of sweeping through the clearing in triumph, it faltered. The breeze that followed was mild, barely ruffling Gaudi’s bell.

    Attila’s eyes gleamed with the realization. He stepped forward, chest heaving, and raised his arms high. A second, more powerful burst emerged from him, louder and deeper than the first. The ground shuddered, and the leaves of the towering oaks fell like rain. Whitesnake stopped playing, their jaws dropping, while Pigskin hollered, “Touchdown, Attila!”

    The White Deer staggered backward, its eyes wide with the acknowledgment of defeat. Even the mystical shimmer of its coat dimmed slightly as it lowered its head, conceding with a graceful bow.

    Mr. Rogers smiled softly, approaching the Deer with a kind pat. “Even in defeat, there is grace,” he whispered.

    Attila grinned broadly, the pride of a conqueror mixed with the lightness of unexpected victory. He extended a hand, not to gloat, but in mutual respect. The Deer accepted with a gentle nod, eyes twinkling with the promise of future contests.

    Attila’s gaze softened, and his thoughts traveled back to his childhood. He remembered sitting at the foot of his grandfather’s grand hearth, the old man’s eyes twinkling beneath his furrowed brow. “Little Attila,” he’d say, with a grin as wide as the plains, “strength is not only in the sword, but in the breath. The art of wind is ancient, passed down from chieftains to warriors. Respect it, and it will serve you well.” The memory of those lessons, playful and absurd as they seemed, were woven into Attila’s life, shaping the warlord he became.  Teaching this gifts to Mariner will take time but will be time well spent.

  • Seeing How Lucky the Bus Loop Is

    Warm day and heavy metal (no music this week) greeted 9 KB warriors at the Circus.  It was a day to bring back a workout that we had not done in a while.  Here is how it went down.

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • DMH
      • Merkins
      • LBC
    • Lucky bus loop – stay under weight as we move around the bus loop, stopping at all 4 corners; 15 reps of an exercise, add a new exercise at each stop
      • 120 lawnmower pulls – each arm
      • 105 overhead pulls
      • 90 sit ‘n presses
      • 75 curls
      • 60 high pulls
      • 45 sumo squats
      • 30 2x hammers
      • 15 halos
    • Mosey back to the flag for some Mary
      • Side crunches each side
      • FK
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Been a while since YHC did the lucky bus loop.  As always, seems easy on paper, but the cumulative impact is a killer.  Great fellowship from the PAX today.  Continued prayers for Fireman Ed, Gypsy and Fudd. 

    Happy 10 years to Fudd.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Gunter gleiben glauchen globen.

    Gunter gleiben glauchen globen.

    Another great rock show in the back lot of Godwin. Wig participation was 13 strong, although some only lasted a few minutes until the heat or bad tasting rat hair resulted in a change. I was able to grab a setlist from the stage and it included the following:

    Rock of Ages: Def Leppard. Warmups to this classic (where the backblast title comes from for you Boomers or 20/30 somethings).

    Youth Gone Wild: Skid Row. Not sure the song would work as well with “Middle Aged Men Gone Wild”. We finished warming up to this song. Included some Flutter Kicks where EF Hutton’s kilt caught some extra glances from Attila.

    TNT: AC/DC. Curls beginning with the “Oi!” and alternating with Lawn Mowers, taking a little break during the guitar solo.

    Talk Dirty To Me: Poison. ‘Cause, baby, we’ll be, At the Godwin, near the old man’s Ford, Doing High Pulls, ‘Til I’m screamin’ for more, then do Burpees, Lock the cellar door, And, baby Talk dirty to me

    Balls to the Wall: Accept. No Bell. Wall sits with air presses or Elaines and then Walls to the Ball toe taps during the Chorus. What came first, this song or Pigskin doing his first Balls to the Wall?

    Love in an elevator: Aerosmith. Teapots (single leg deadlift) and Squats (going down…)

    Drop Dead Legs: Van Halen. More leg work. Swings and Lunges.

    You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’: Judas Priest. Partner up, one does Bear Crawls and Bernie’s back while the other does presses. Did this two times each.

    House of Pain, Faster Pussycat. I’m not trying to fake it, And Whitesnake ain’t the one to blame, There’s Sit and Presses In my house of pain. I didn’t write these pages, And my script’s been rearranged, Rotate to Triceps, In my house of pain

    Heaven: Warrant. Circle back up. For this final song and power ballad, hold the bell in rifle carry as long as you can while we rotated through ten reps of favorite kettle bell exercise. Rushed through this at the end but got to hear all two key changes in this 1989 hit.

    Thanks for everyone who made it out today. Thirteen is great numbers for Circus. Come on back!

    Prayers for Fudd’s sister Mary, Roger Roger’s wife Molly, Faceplant’s wife, Fireman Ed and Gaudi’s family.

    Didn’t play any GnR until coffeteria but will end with this great quote from Axel:

    “I’m not God but if I were God, ¾ of you would be girls, and the rest would be pizza and beer.”

  • Mumble-Chatter Palooza

    Another open Q sheet for YHC to pounce upon.  A beautiful morning greeted 10 KB warriors.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • DMH
      • Merkins
      • LBC
      • APD
    • KB 4 corners – KB lunge walk between corners with 5, 10, 15 and 20 reps at each corner
      • 50 sit ‘n presses
      • 50 high pulls
      • 50 curls
    • 5x check
      • Run
      • Overhead pulls
      • Tripcep presses
      • KB presses
      • Squats
    • Mary with 1-legged crunches
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Good to meet Goat Shed from Charlottesville.  We wish it were under different circumstances, but grateful for the opportunity to pray for him and his family after his father’s passing.  Goat Shed fit in well, taking no time to join the mumble-chatter and bust on different members of the PAX.

    Welcome back Fireman Ed!  We will continue to pray for you and your treatments!


    Thanks to Offshore for the coffee and some post-workout 2nd F. 

    Definitely plenty of mumble-chatter this morning!  White Deer leading the charge since he rarely actually does exercise.  Great to have the AO’s spirit animal back in the fold.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Tiktok Trend Setters

    With no White Deer or Pigskin, this group of nine young hipsters decided to create a new trend by focusing of what Gomer called “well sculpted butts”

    No one admitted to having Tiktok but the following workout is now super popular on Snapface:

    Start with warmups of SSH, Ukrainian Soldiers, Copperhead Squats, Arm Circles, Helicopters, LBCs, 5 Burpees when the runner ignore our greeting and then Merkins.

    Then we moved to three sets of each the following eight kettlebell exercises: 10 Squats (first two sets holding rack position, 3rd sumo), 20 High Pulls, 10 Romanian Deadlifts, 20 Swings, 10 Clean + Press per side, 10 Renegade Rows per side, 10 steps up per leg and 20 dips (no bell). We also did a bus loop lap after finishing sets of two exercises (3 laps total).

    During these exercises, Attila posted on AssChat. He has no followers.

    We had 5 minutes of Mary left. Started with 5 more burpees. Then we did some Flutters holding up the bell, APDs, Bridge position presses, LBCs and ended with American Hammers with the bell.

    Announcements: Heavy Metal Kettle in two weeks! Also, Offshore is finalizing the Circus strategic plan (shirt order details coming soon!)

    Prayers for Fireman Ed and for Fudd’s sister Mary. Attila took us out.

    We then enjoyed coffee prepared by the always popular trending barista Offshore. Just don’t check his friends ranking on MySpace. You are not on it. Great to have Probation and Gomer join the crew. Probation spent most of the morning taking videos of his muscles while Gomer wished for tighter clothes. All of this would blow up on Tiktok if we posted but we decided not to mess with the Circus Maximus vibe. Plus we mostly don’t know what we are talking about. #Gomerlikestightbutts #plasticinmynutz #Attilasplatter #mot-dièse.

    Please Like & Subscribe!!

  • Girly Exercises can be tough

    9 middle aged plus men descended on the cool confines of the land of the Mills Godwin Eagle.

    I decided since we are in the 2020s to make the workout based mainly on female exercises. I got my inspiration from an attendee from the folk festival which said, “In the future the world will be ruled by females.” I thought it already was.

    COP: Helicopters, DQs, Merkins, mountain climbers, heels to heaven and ACs. Mosey to side of school.

    Dora #1: 75 Sit and Press, 150 Bench Press and 300 LBCs. Pacer runs down parking lot to next lamp post (one that goes on and off) and Bernies back. Mosey to home base parking lot.

    Dora #2: 75 Coupon Squats, 150 calf raises and 225 SSHs. Partner lunges to top of parking lot and runs back. Mosey to loop.

    Lindsey with bicep curls and triceps. Mosey to wall of school.

    Wall sit with coupon, 15 donkey kicks, wall sit with coupon – 5 presses (this hurt my back – I guess my form was bad) and 20 donkey kicks. Mosey to home base and stretch.

    Announcement: Whitesnake’s band (not called Whitesnake) will be playing at Kindred Spirits satellite location next to Hardywood location this Saturday. Prayers for Fudd’s sister Mary and for Fireman Ed’s M’s family (father n’ law passed away early Monday).

    Hopefully all of the shakeup with the Jets will actually help them against the Bills.

    Fireman Ed

  • Ready, Set, Launch

    10 KB warriors took the F3 path less traveled at Circus Maximus today.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • Ukrainian soldiers
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • Suzanne Somers
      • HRM
      • LBC
    • KB Beast – different exercise and different means of traversing the length of the bus loop
      • Sit ‘n press and KB carry
      • High pulls and right-hand overhead carry
      • Curls and left-hand overhead carry
      • Tricpep press and death crawl
      • Shoulder press and weighted lunges
      • Sumo squats and around the world
    • Mary – 1 legged crunches, each side
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Great work from the PAX today.  As always, this beat-down was deceptive, but real.  The PAX started with a lot of mumble-chatter, most notably White Deer.  As always, it came from both orifices.  At one point during COP, he released from fireworks, for which Pigskin dropped the one-liner to White Deer, the Q did not mean for you to go “ready, set, launch.”  Pretty sure Offshore’s post-workout coffee sent White Deer on a beeline to the porcelain thrown. 

    Continued prayers for Fudd’s sister, Mary.  In addition, “Dry October” has commenced.  Time to shake any bad habits and enter a month of “self-denial.”  Lunch next Tuesday at Firehouse Subs in Short Pump, and Whitesnake’s band is playing next Saturday. 

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • You never, ever leave your wingman!

    11 “middle aged” studs showed up to pump some iron (possibly coated in rubberized plastic) in the pre-dawn gloom around Godwin HS.

    COP – SSH’s, DMH, arm circles, merkins, and some other stuff

    Mosey with bells to the loop for various exercises, with breaks to run around the loop. Exercises included:

    KB Swings, Halos, Cleans, Pullovers, Pulse Squats, Overhead Press, Clean & Press, Sit & Press, and some other stuff

    Mosey back to the flag for some Mary.

    Numberama, Namerama, Attila took us out. Coffeteria followed courtesy of Offshore.

    Moleskin: YHC thought music would be a nice distraction for the PAX today since a lot of the time was spent grinding through multiple KB exercises. The Wingman bluetooth speaker was dutifully plugged in last night and was ready to go this AM, or so YHC thought. Unfortunately, it started to switch songs from the hard rock playlist of AudioSlave, Staind, AC/DC, and Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift??!! (While there are a few Swiftie songs in my library, those are only played by other members of YHC’s family) YHC was quite puzzled as to how this was taking place and remains somewhat convinced that an unknown antagonist was intentionally switching the songs….perhaps a teenager in an adjacent house was able to remotely hijack the speaker?? Regardless, despite the repeated warnings from Iceman and Viper in Top Gun, this Maverick is ready to ditch his Wingman in favor of more dependable brands (ex Bose).

    TClaps to all the PAX for giving maximum effort today and to Offshore for the coffeteria (w/creamer and sweetner!).

    Appreciate everyone’s continued prayers for my sister Mary. Things are not getting better….at least yet. She now has a suspected tumor in her lung and multiple others in bones around her body, including her ribs, spine, and skull. The healing power of God is needed more than ever.

    Fudd

  • KB AMRAP

    Eight noble KB warriors embraced the gloom of the Circus.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • SSH
      • IW
      • DQ
      • Helicopters
      • Arm circles
      • DMH
      • Merkins
      • LBC
    • KB AMRAP – – 5 exercises, 30 seconds for as many reps as possible followed by a rest of 20 seconds between exercises for the 1st cycle, 15 on the next, 10 on the 3rd and 5 on the final cycle
      • High pulls
      • Curls
      • Tricep press
      • Squats
      • Swings
    • Run the bus loop
    • 2nd KB AMRAP
      • Sit ‘n presses
      • Bench presses
      • Overhead pulls
      • Skull crushers
      • KB hammers
    • Mary
      • One-legged crunches – each side
      • H2H
      • FM
    • COT

    Great work by the PAX.  Plenty of mumble chatter, but no issues here.  Prayers up for Fudd’s sister and Fireman Ed’s father-in-law.  Cancer sucks!  All in all, great start to the day.  Offshore continues his tradition of brewing coffee during the workout for the PAX, which is next level. 

    Convergence and 10 year anniversary celebrations this weekend.  Check Slack.

    God is good all of the time!

    Attila

  • Happy Belated Birthday

    The Circus was strong this morning with 11 PAX prowling the confines of our favorite bomb shelter school, Mills Godwin. After getting my bearings together and with the lights of the bus loop shining, we started some KB work.

    COP: DQs, arm circles, HRMs, MCs, plank jacks, Freddies. With a strong trumpet blast from White Deer, I ended the COP. Mosey to Pump Road side.

    I was planning to do Triple Checks around the indented area between the school and Pump Road. Given the area would have taken a couple PAX several minutes to navigate, I changed it. Pacer runs around 50 yards and back, partner 1 does sit and press, partner 2 bicep curls.

    Lindseys with high pulls and lawnmower pulls are next. We would mosey toward the bus loop after each set. The set of 30 high pulls proved to be a pain inducer.

    Next is the Fireman Ed loop. Line up on the curb. Pacer runs around bus loop. pacer finishes and the PAX rotate. Exercises included Bench Press, squats, Triceps, Coupon flutters, american hammers, tricep pull downs, sumo squats, lawnmower pulls and I forget the last one.

    Finished with coupon wall sits and some stretching.

    Big 10th anniversary at Dogpile. See slack for details. Please attend the next Firehouse subs gathering (me included since I work 1/2 mile from there) on the second Tuesday. Prayers for my father n law battling liver cancer.

    The reason for the title of the backblast was during namerama, White Deer mentioned his age and I said “Happy Birthday White Deer.” He then said, “my birthday was in July”. So most of the PAX decided to tell me when their birthdays were so I could wish them belated happy birthdays. So if I forgot your birthday, happy belated birthday to you.

    Enjoy the rest of your week and hopefully I will see you soon.

    Fireman Ed